Cincinnati Aviation Heritage Society & Museum

Preserving Aviation's Past for Future Generations.

B-25 CRASH LANDS AT LUNKEN

Actual 1963 Cincinnati Enquirer
Newspaper Article

By Paul Lugannani
of The Enquirer Staff
February 21, 1963

CO-PILOT JUMPS; LOAD OF SNAKES, ALLIGATORS
INTACT

A crippled twin-engine aircraft, loaded with some 2000 reptiles of a
wild animal show, made a spectacular wheels-up landing Wednesday
afternoon at Lunken Airport and the pilot walked away. In a
thrill-packed 15 minutes, the World War II type B-25 plane, came in, one
engine dead, the other failing, with the landing gear jammed.

The co-pilot had bailed out minutes before, after Leonard McGee Downe,
Calif., the pilot assessed the hazards compounded by a 24-mph cross
wind. Roy Hurst 25, Meridian, Miss., the co-pilot, suffered scratches
and head cuts when he parachuted from 3000 feet and landed in a tree
near Newtown. He was taken to General Hospital.

The plane, Wild Cargo, is a World War II medium bomber of the type
used in the famous Doolittle raid on Tokyo. It was converted into a
transport by its owner, Arthur Jones, Sildell, La., television performer
and producer of an animal show scheduled to open Saturday at Music Hall.
Mr. Jones later said the show will go on. The “passenger” list included
four alligators.

Leonard McGee
... the pilot

The pilot was minutes out of Lunken, en route from Sildell, when he
radioed the control tower that his airplane’s right engine was dead and
the landing gear inoperable. As he circled the field at 6000 feet to
reduce the gas load, tension mounted on the ground, where nearly a dozen
police and fire department vehicles took up standby emergency positions.

Cincinnati Fire Marshal Ben Ballard marshalled the forces to the
north end of the main runway which angles south from Beechmont Levee. He
stretched 1000 feet of hose under pressure from a Wilmer Avenue hydrant
and was ready to pursue the plane with 3000 more feet.

Don't go till I give the signal - and remember there are alligators
in there.. Human life first, then animals if possible, he told his men
who were clad in aluminum asbestos heat resistant suits. From the
control tower Wesley Schaffer, chief, calmly conversed with the pilot of
the stricken craft, suggesting safety procedures.

At 3:05 p.m. Pilot McGee and veteran of 20 years in the air and a
ferry pilot in World War II, reported the co-pilot was going to
parachute. Mr. Hurst delayed his jump until the plane had passed north
of the field. He disappeared in a wooded area.

Moments after the Orange and white chute blossomed, Mr. McGee circled
to the left and began the grim, wheels-up approach to the runway. All
who say it agreed it was a perfect crash landing. For a moment it
appeared the worst would happen fire. Midway along a 400 foot, grinding
slide there was flame among the myriad of trailing sparks.

Fortunately, the flame died of its own accord just as the craft
ground to a halt.

However, fire in the electrical system filled the
cabin with smoke. Marshal Ballard stopped it by disconnecting the
battery. Mr. McGee virtually catapulted himself out of the top escape
hatch, the door of which he previously had jettisoned.

Running for his life, Mr. McGee collapsed on another runway 200 feet
away. “That was something! He gasped-“Just let me sit here awhile and
say nothing.” After a pause: “I hope that co-pilot made it. He cracked
his head hard when he went out.”

Moments later, refreshed by a cigarette in a police cruiser, he
explained:

“I didn't get shook until that final approach. As I was coming down
that second engine started going out on me. I didn't think I’d have
enough power left to reach the field. I shut off the fuel before
touchdown.”

That precaution apparently spared firemen from fighting a major fire.
Firemen unloaded the trussed alligators and crates of snakes and
turtles. “Boy I felt good when I saw all of that equipment down there.”
Mr. McGee said gratefully to a fireman.

(Original Caption-Photo
Missing)Mr. And Mrs. Albert Alligator and family step aboard a Lunken
Airport reptile special for transportation after their flight had
difficulty in landing Wednesday. The gators and a group of snakes en
route to a wild animal show were aboard the converted B-25 that made a
wheels-up landing at the airport after the co-pilot parachuted.

History of this B-25

The
Fighter Factory's
Virginia Beach, VA) B-25 was built in 1944. Originally the plane was
equipped with a radome in the nose of the plane and surveillance
equipment in the fuselage. Chino, California was home to this Mitchell
for several years where it was designated as a TB-25N trainer. It is
believed that this B-25 never saw combat, but did make a wheels-up
landing in Cincinnati, Ohio, during its civilian duties. In 1951 a man
from Louisiana was using this B-25, then named, "Wild Cargo," to fly
exotic animals to the Cincinnati Zoo.

On one flight into Lunken Field in Cincinnati, the bomber had 1,500
snakes aboard when the landing gear failed to retract After landing on
the belly of the plane, the airport needed three days to round up most
of the snakes. The plane was dragged off the runway and lifted to again
sit on its landing gear by Cincinnati Aircraft, Inc. The rightful owner
never returned to claim the plane, so it was eventually auctioned off by
the local sheriffs office.

Walter Soplata purchased the plane and took it to his house in
Newbury, OH. After four decades of sitting on his property, Walter sold
the plane to Vintage Aircraft, Inc. The Fighter Factory purchased the
B-25 a few years later but the plane remains with Vintage Aircraft,
Inc., in Woodstock Georgia for a complete restoration. The radar and
surveillance equipment has been stripped and a clear nose has been
added, which will make the Fighter Factory's aircraft a B-25J Mitchell.